Method of separating particles of rubber from materials with which they are commingled.



W SQBLAINE. METHOD OF SEPARATING PARTICLES 0P RUBBER FROM MATERIALS WITH WHICH THEY ARE GOMMINGLED. APPLICATION FILED NOV.1, 1910. -L032,733w Patented July 16, 1912.

INVENTOR 933?); b 9255 cfxcc c/kcc (CC/k u.

- 'lo all whom ii may ooncemr lllillll A no I A.

no onions.

IIEMAL RUBBER JERQZEY.

COMPANY, 8F NEW YORK, N l A. GGB-IORA'IION 02 NEW METHOD on snrsnnrme rnnmoms OF RUBBER meson mnsnnmns WITH wmos THEY one oommmexnn,

specification of Letters Patent. Patented July fifi jlg12 Application flied November 1;, left). Serial No. 590,150.

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM SULLIVAN BLAINE, a citizen of the United. Eltates, residing; st Torreon, Republic. of Mexico, have invented certsin new and useful Improvements in Methods of Separating Rutioles of llulooer from. Materials with Which They are Commingled; and I do hereby do olsre the following so he a full, clean-end exact description of the invention, such'ns will enable others skilled in ihe art to which it nppertains so make and use the same. My invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in the separation of ps'riicles of rubber from materials with which they are commingled.

Among other uses, the, invention is of particular importance in the recovery, by flotation, of the perlicies of rubber nieohanisally associated Wish-the bark and Woody matter of the gnayule shrub and. like rubber-hearing shrubs and plants Wl1lCl'l l1fi"Q been. subjected to attrition, in the presence of Water, in the. Well-known pebhle mill familiar to the art.

In she accompanying flowing, Figure 1 represents a longiiudinal sectional VlBW oiappm'stus suitable for the practice of the improved method, fihe llolsation tank thereof being shown as portly broken away; 2 represents -21 top plan view thereof; and 3 and 4 represent, respectively cross sectional views, taken on planes indicated by the dotted lines 3--3, and, 4%, Fig. 3 being on a somewhat larger scale.

Similar letters of reference indicate similar parts throughout the several views.

Referring to the drawing, it will be noted that the apparatus shown consists of three main elei'nents, to wit, u flotation tank A, a concentrator B feeding; the flotation tank, and an auxiliary tank C into which the heavier residues or sinkers, usually called rubber hagasse are fed from the flotation lsnk.

'sense the? t a screw conveyor (2, located in :1 well 7), mid Way of the bottom of the tank and between the inclined bottom walls thereof. So, also, it is preferred to progressively 'rlrsw oil the floats, consisting mainly of the sepsrnterl rubber particles, these floats finding their exit by way of the overflow o, to a suitable. .plflflfi of colleciion. The simultaneous and. progressive withdrawal of bot-h the sinkers enrl floats permits the flotation tank to he operated with a correspondingly high output per unit of lime. Particularly, moreover, the progressive WlljlldliLWRl of the sinkers is effected without inlerfering in any substantial way with the separating notion of the flotation tank; or, in other Words, without sensing the renlrance into the sinkers of any of the particles of rubber that have been released and are on their Way upward in lheintermedisie wafer zone hell-Ween the sinlrers and she floats. eml, I provide for preventing any such reenlxranoe of released rnhher particles into the sinkezs, by establishing a oounlermiling or compensating heck-pr "sure to balancethe head of Water in the flotation tank, and thereby ssippi'ess any l'einleney to the for motion of a downward currentof water To this from the flotation tank during the withdmwal of the sinkers. This bacliiressnro may be obtained in any convenient way, but preferably by the expedient of having the outgoing body of sinkers discharge inio the auxiliary tank 8, containing a body of: Water, which will balance the head of the body of Water in the flotation tank. The rate of revolution of the screw conveyor (1 is slow, and. results in f gradual advance of the sinners and their progressive discharge into the auxiliary tank. In the nu iliary tank, it is desirable to avoid any SllCll amount of agitation or eldying ns would tend to exert a suction action upon the charge. in the flotation tank. Accorciingly, for the removal of the sinkers as they are discharged into the si'lxilinry tank, there are employed elevating levioes which. like wise move slowly. These elevating devices, moreover, have s 's' 151;; ili'imo'liim. in the n the sinkers as {he snol permit the dri zpings into the main lowly of water rise from tin lkikflill trapping, on top of the bucket charges, of

' the small layer of water thus decanted, is

due to the that the individual particles of the sinliers are small, and that some of them are'so 'fine that they settle upon and Within the coarser particles, as the buckets begin to drain, so that the mass becomes correspondingly less permeable, to theextent of preventing the down filtration of the small top layers of water referred to. The return of the drippings from the perforations of the buckets and from the top of the bucket charges maintains practically constant the body-of water in the tank C. V

In practice, it is preferred to supply the commingled mass? of water, and particles of wood,-bark, and rubber, fromthe pebble mill, to a flow-box D, wherein, if desired, the mass may be further diluted with an additional supply of water so as to find ready exit through the discharge apertures f of the flow-box. From the discharge apertures of the flow-box, the material is sup plied to the bottom of the concentrator B, in such manner as to lie-distributed with substantial uniformity over the entire width of the concentrator bottom. The concentrator bottom is provided with a series of longitudinal projections n which may convcniently be of a height of about three-quarters -of an inch at the flow-box end of the concentrator and which preferably taper to the dis harge end of the concentrator bottom; so f at, as the particles advance toward the flotation-tank, their distribution over the surface of the concentrator bottom will be.

maintained, and so that they will readily pass off from the verge or edge of the concentrator bottom without tendency to mass up or accumulate along said edge.

The" concentrator bottom or table is appropriately mounted upon suitable oscillafor links or supports 9 and is connected, by a s cet of rubber h, forming a bellows fold, with the flotation tank a, so as to be capable of a limited longitudinal reciprocation. .The desired reciprocation is of such a-character that the concentrator bottom or table will be accelerated toward the end of the forward stroke, so that a corresponding series of minute impulses -(usually about 250 per minute, more or less) will b imparted to the material, causing it to move forward toward the flotation tank. In this move ment, the material. advances under a cover- A chain elevator 6, having perapproing of about from three to five inches of water, the water level being established by the water level existing in the flotation tank. The resultant efi'ect -is that there-is produced a corresponding turning over oi? the par ticles of themixture, as they advance, thereby permitting them to release, to somedegree, the lighter particles, and to obtain a certain amount of stratification in the by 'the'time that it passes into the deeper body of water in the flotation tank. in passing over the verge of the concentrator bottom or table-into the deeper body of water in the flotation tankfthe mass has a relativelyconsiderable drop and, in its descent through this deeper bedy of water, additional particles of rubber are released to join the floats on the surface of the water therein.

Suitable means for obtaining the desired acceleration of the forward stroke of the reciprocating concentrator bottom or table are illustrated in the drawing. These means may consist of a rodv m adapted to move back and forth in bearings 17 and connected at its forward end'to the lower part of the table at a, said rod m being enveloped by the spring fiwhich reacts between 8 and one of the bearings r. A toggle joint, one of whose lever arms 6 is fulcrumed to a sup port on the frame E and whose other lever arm j is fulcruined to the rod m, is provided the point of juncture of the two arms,

with a vertical arm is, screw-threaded at its upper end and passing through a pivoted rock bar Z, whose free end rests upon the continuously revolving cam '0 on the power shaft w, which power shaft may be run by a belt :0 and pulley y from any convenient source of power. The arm is is provided with an ad uSting nutic' so as to determine the length of stroke of the rod m and consequently the rate of advance of the material on the concentrator bottom or table. It will, of course, be understood that'the mechanism gives a, corresponding retardation of move ment on the return stroke of each reciprocation, thereby correspondingly increasing the efiect.

What I claim is: p l. The method of separating particles of rubber from materials with which they are cominingled, which consists in separating the rubber particles by flotation in a'body of -z water, and withdrawing the -heavier resif ues"or sinker-s into an auxiliary substan- -=t-ially qu escent body of water and under such back pressure as will substantially .prevent reentrance, into the sinkers, ofrubber particles that have been released; substan tially as described. i

' Q. The method of separating particlesof rubber from materials with which'they are commingled, which consists in feeding the mass forward beneath a shallow covering oi ifso weaves water, into a deeper body of water at stibstantially the water level thereof; substantially as described.

3. The method of separating particles of rubber from materials with-which they are coinniingled, which consists in feeding the mass forward under a series of impulses beheath a shallow body of water tl'iereby effecting partial stratification of the heavier particles, and then delivering the partially stratiiicd mass into the upper part of a deeper body of water for separaiion by flotation therein; substantially described.

st. The method of separating particles of rubber from materials with which they are 'coininingled, which consists in separating the rubber particles by flotation in a body of water, drawing oft the floated rubber progressively from the surface of the water, drawing oi? the heavier residues or sinkers progressively from the lower portion of the water, and balancing the head of the deep body of water by establishing in communr' cation therewith a substantially quiescent auxiliary deep body of water into which the said sinlters discharge; substantially as described.

The method of separating particles of riitiber from materials with which they arecon'nningled, which consists in'separating the rubber particles by flotation in a body of water, drawing off the floated rubber pro- 'resslvely from the surface of the water, .rawlng ed the heavier residues or sinkers progressively'trom the lower portion of the water, balancing the head of the deep body of water by establishing in communication therewith an auxiliary deep body of water into which the said sinkers discharge and progressively removing the sinkers from the auxiliary deep body of water without occasioning substantial suction action therein upon the first body of water; substantially described.

6. The method of separating particles of rubber from materials with which they are commingled, which consists in separating the rubber particles by flotation in a body of water, drawing off the floated rubber.

progressively front thesurface of the water, drrnving off the heavier residues or slnkers progressively from the :ower portion of the water, balancing the head of the deep body of water by establishing in communication therewith an auxiliary deep body of Water into which the said sinke'rs discharge, progressively sieving out the sinkers as they are delivered into the auxiliary body of we" ter, and returning to said auxiliary body of Water the drippings of the sieving operation; substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature,

in presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM SULLIVAN BLAINE. Witnesses:

G. A. GUERRA, N. Ancos. 

